Editorial: New co-ops long time coming, but necessary

Talk about it

More high schools in the region are considering forming cooperative agreements for athletics, some of which may have seemed entirely unlikely a generation — or even a decade — ago.

Lately, there have been many talks between schools in the region.

Kimball and White Lake will combine for the upcoming football season and are considering other possible co-ops in basketball. Mount Vernon and Plankinton also are considering some sort of athletic merger, although talks are preliminary and board members from both districts say they want more time to mull the options.

It was announced recently that Sanborn Central and Woonsocket will be joining for sports. Woonsocket and Wessington Springs already are together for football, which means Woonsocket, Wessington Springs and Sanborn Central will combine for a single football team.

And consider this: Sanborn Central serves students from Artesian, Letcher and Forestburg. Wessington Springs for the past few decades has welcomed students from Gann Valley and Lane. When Alpena closed its doors last decade, many of those students went to Wessington Springs as well.

In the 1960s, all of those towns still had an operating high school; in the 1980s, all but Gann Valley and Lane did.

Forty years ago, would anyone have imagined a merger between all eight of those schools — some 60 miles apart — to form a single nine-man football team?

Some of these combinations being discussed this spring may have been considered unholy alliances not long ago, but today, we wonder: What took so long?

As populations dwindle in many of this region’s school districts and as educational dollars are sheared at the state level, we suspect cooperative agreements for extracurricular activities will gain in popularity. Minnesota already has figured this out, and South Dakotans will simply have to warm to the idea.

Along with the benefits for the students involved — in the way of retained extracurricular opportunities that might otherwise be lost — the potential for saving money exists as well. All that’s required is that parents and patrons of the districts check their egos and bury any hard feelings that have developed over the past century of a rivalry.

We suspect that’s easier said than done, but times change.

The regional co-ops that are forming are good for the kids. And, as Stickney and Corsica recently realized when those former rivals combined this month to win a state basketball title, co-ops can be rewarding.

These alliances may well be the precursor to school consolidations in the coming years. Although we believe in local control and are against forced consolidation, we also believe it is inevitable for some shrinking districts.

Athletic co-ops are a good first step toward building relationships that could prove beneficial in the future.

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